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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Cities w/ Landorus EX/Mewtwo EX

And the award of the most useless cardof the tournament goes to....

Hello
everyone!

After a lot of Eye on Japan articles, it’ back to
basics as I played in my second CC this year last weekend! I’ll attend the
European Challenge Cup in the Netherlands, which will be held this
Saturday-Sunday, so this was my last chance to test any deck for the
tournament. If you want to be up-to-date on for my ECC-run, remember to follow
me on

I already know that I had tested Hammertime enough for ECC, so I was left with
2 tier1 decks – Landorus EX/Mewtwo Ex and Blastoise/Keldeo EX. On the day
before the tournament, I decided to give a try for Landorus EX/Mewtwo EX as I
saw a lot of Eelektriks in our last City Championships. So, how it went? We
shall see. But let’s start with the list.

Nothing too surprising in this list. Tornadus EX and Aspertia City Gym are a
must if I want to deal with Blastoise/Keldeo EXs and rest of the deck should be
pretty self-explanatory. Bouffalant, Eviolite and Aspertia City Gym are just
too good together and playing2 Bouffalants would have been an option. Anyways,
I was very well prepared for the tournament and was confident with my deck. I
desperately need Championship Points in order to get 2 Byes to National
Championships, so I wanted to play with a deck that would guarantee my top4
place (Quad Sigilyph and Aggron/Sableye aren’t the most surefire decks for
getting CPs)

1. Round (Eelektrik/Rayquaza)

Great, an Eelektrik deck! It’s pretty much an autowin for Landorus EX/Mewtwo
EX,so I was pretty confident. I went first and donked his sinlge Tynamo with
Landorus EX…Ok. That’s one of the many reasons, why I haven’t really ever enjoy
playing with Eelektrik decks.
1-0

2. Round (Blastoise/Keldeo EX)

After getting a solid opening hand in the last game, this game my opening
hand was horrible. I had to open with Landorus EX (against Blastoise decks, it
usually seals the whole game) and had no supporter in hand. He had 2 Keldeo EXs
in his opening, but didn’t have a supporter either. Unfortunately for me Keldeo
EX is just too powerful against Landorus EX when they are going first, as it
will OHKO Landorus EX in T3!

We both draw, attached and passed until he OHKOed my Landorus EX with Keldeo
EX. From that point I was able to KO his Keldeo EX back, but from the prizes he
drew the necessary cards for Blastoise and it all downhill from there. I got
him into a situation where we both had 2 prizes and I was able to N him to 2.
unfortunately, he drew a Juniper from the N. And from the Juniper he got the 4
energy he needed for his Mewtwo EX in order to retreat his Keldeo EX and KO my
2 energy Mewtwo EX. Close match.
1-1

3. Round (Eelektrik/Rayquaza)

I went first and donked his lone Tynamo…Seriously?
2-1

4. Round (Darkrai EX/Mewtwo EX)

So, at this point I was at 2-1 and had played only one game… So in theory I
was at 0-1. I really wasn’t by the donks I got from the early rounds, because I
really need some tournament games in order to get my full play repertoire back.
Thakfully this game gave me a good game. I opened with Landorus EX, which gave
me huge advantage and pretty must rolled over him with my Landorus EX and
Bouffalant + Aspertia Vity Gym (Seriously, SO good against Darkrai EX9.
Bouffalant must really be the most underrated cards of this format. I didn’t
even Retaliate once! Good game, even though it was pretty one-sided.
3-1

5. Round (Darkrai EX/Mewtwo EX)

I knew the match-up was favorable. However, I still needed the win in order to
get to the top cut. Once again, I had a god hand, except for the supporter. I
opened with Terrakion (oh, why), so good bye surprise while she opened with
Sableye and Darkrai EX on the bench. Anyways, I went first and drew Tornadus EXm
benched it and looked at my hand. I played, Switch, DCE; Aspertia City Gym and
PlusPower. Goodbye Sableye.

I knew I had a HUGE upper-hand at this point of the game. Anwyays, she got a
pretty decent opening hand as well, because she was able to Dark Patch Sableye,
retreat Darkrai EX, Catcher my Terrakion and Junk Hunt. I drew Juniper from
prizes and used it. No energy and no PlusPower or Switch. I just passed. From
here I was pretty much just Switching for Tornadus EX to the active spot, while
she hammered my Terrakion. 2 turns later, the turning point of the game
happened. Stupidly I had attached 3 energy to my Terrakion, which was on the
bench and in the active spot was a Bouffalant that was once again Catchered
since I was forced to play it down before my earlier Juniper. I needed a Switch
from my N if she draws a Catcher from the same N. Well, Catcher for her, no
Switch for me. Terrakion dies with 3 energy while I did NOTHING during that
turn. At that point, I just glanced at my table and didn’t really realize how I
managed to screw up things this bad.

I had to slow my game down, which in the end wasn’t a good thing. Time was
called in her turn and I had all the cards I needed for the win in my hand.
Catcher and Skyla, so I could get rid off her benched Darkrai EX and win the
prizes. However, I only needed one turn in order to use the Skyla. She Ns me to
3, I draw Bianca and a (about 30% of my deck were draw supporters). Nice, so
all I needed was a Catcher from the Bianca. I succeed in drawing a Skyla once
again, so I will be able to win in turn 3 of the game. Unless… She N’s me
again! I draw N and and 2 Ultra Balls, yeahhh... Ugh. I draw. Nothing. I have 2
Switched and a Catcher in my 10 card deck and when I use the N, I have 13 cards
in the deck. The odds are against me. I use N as I can’t do anything else and start
drawing. First card, Skyla. Second, Switch(!!!!!!). Third…Landorus EX. GG. Time
ran out and I could have finished the game in the next turn.
3-2

The last game was very frustrating for two reasons. First, the match-up was
positive and I had an upper-hand, but completely misplayed and didn’t have a
good-enough luck to get back from it. And second, the last time I lost due to
the time was in Worlds Championships 2005 top32 match against Bobby Malec… It’s
been 8 years!! I have always been a fast player, but it seems that since I don’t
have played in enough tournaments this year, my game-pace has slowed down too
much. It’s also good to remember that I haven’t been able to even top cut in a
tournament this season, so I don’t really know what has happened. Something has
happened and I really am not happy about it.

Anyways, ECC will be in just 5 days, so I’m very excited! Maybe I’ll get to the
top cut for the first time this
season, lol. After the tournament, I had a very clear vision on what to play
and I’m now already sure what to play in ECC. I hope the deck won’t let me
down. I’ll try to do an ECC –entry before I’ll depart to the Netherlands on
Friday (it feels like I’m traveling more often than I’m in Finland, but that’s
who the student life is, eh?) .